benjamin harrison while in the white house they changeover from gas to your electric and did that as an end of the cleveland's appliances woodwork. [laughter] but he takes the oath of office in march in that was not a good time to become president. here is the panic of 1893. nine days before he took office of the railroad had gone bankrupt and writing was one of the most successful and years before they had built a brand new terminal in philadelphia standing until the '80s. 1893, the rating went bankrupt. they were hopelessly overbuilt in the 18 eighties and nineties as a speculative bubble like we have had recently. the number of realigns doubled after the civil war but the population only grew 60% the 193 rose went bankrupt in about 20% of the number of the country. of course, all those who had invested stock were wiped out. this sparked a panic on wall street sending the stock market down there was another thing that went on i will not get into too much but to say i write about it in detail with amazing pros but the debate over gold verses solar. what should the currency be based

benjamin harrison while the cleveland or -- while there were in the white house and the cleveland's for wait a changeover from gaston electric. i think they did this so none of the appliances of work. but in 1892 grover was the election, and he takes the oath of office in march. the inauguration's or in march of that time. it was not a good time to become president, and this is where the panic of 1893 comes in. not days before grover took office the railroad had gone bankrupt. one of the most successful roads in the u.s. just years before. they had built a brand new terminal running terminal which stood until the 1980's. in 1893 it went bankrupt. it was a bad sign. railroads were hopelessly overbuilt and the team 80's and 90's. this was a speculative bubble, much like we have had recently with other things to my real estate and dot com. in the 1890's it was a railroad spirited number of rail lines double, more than doubled. multiple lines running between cities, competing railroad companies. and then the bottom fell out in 1893. 119 runs went bankrupt in 1893. about 20 percent of the nu

the political figures in my cohort are the presidents: john tyler, benjamin harrison, martin van buren, john calhoun, daniel webster, henry clay. these are the--the political stars of this generation. c-span: where did you write the book--what part of the country? >> guest: in los angeles--west los angeles. c-span: what do you do out there? >> guest: i teach history. c-span: at--at... >> guest: the university of california at los angeles. c-span: ucla. >> guest: ucla, yeah. c-span: how long have you done that? >> guest: i've taught history for 33 years and i've been at ucla since 1981. c-span: why history? >> guest: you know, i think--i have a theory about people and why they become what they become. i think there are about four basic ways to understand reality or understand the world. one of them is, obviously. through measuring and it, you know, it appeals to people who are--who be--who become scientists of observation and measurement. another one is clearly a religious sensibility. there's also, i think, a poetic and imaginative way of grasping reality. and another is to understand